Again to Carthage by John L. Parker Jr. Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Again to Carthage
Book Review: More Than a Sequel
Summary: 4 Stars
This is a very enjoyable book, though in a different way from Once a Runner. Whereas in OAR the whole book is focused on running and training, and the emotions and thoughts and struggles associated with them, this book is a novel whose central character happens to be a runner.
There are still some great running sequences, and insights into the physical and emotional trials of training and racing hard, but unlike OAR this book has more than just that. You learn much more about the other aspects of Quentin's life - his family and friends, his work, his hobbies, some deaths of family members and acquaintances, etc. What emerges is a much broader portrayal than what we got in OAR.
I was expecting this to be another OAR, and instead it was different, but in a good way. But similar to OAR, the final race scene is fantastic. And in a fitting ending to the story of Quentin Cassidy, the final line of this book is classic.
Book Review: My Life As A Runner
Summary: 5 Stars
I was never a great runner like our Mr. Cassidy, but this book was the perfect image of what went through my mind as a runner in high school and in college. I have kept stories, I have had the training sessions (not as tough as some of his),lost the girl (still want her back), but most of all I had the dream. This book was the perfect ending to the story for us, we have a great ending that leaves us wanting more, even though the story is complete. Mr. Parker brings in former friends and brings the history of Mr. Cassidy back. I think going home is inside all of us and brings us back to where our dreams started. A great book, one I wish I could live again and write myself.
Book Review: Never again to Carthage
Summary: 1 Stars
I guess that I assumed that a book written by the author of "once a runner" would be about running, at least - sport, and it may be. I am more than 1/3 throught it and stopped when "The running Life" by Dr. George Sheehan came in the mail yesterday. Carthage is well written but not what I had hoped for in the book.Book Review: Of Time and The Runner
Summary: 5 Stars
John L. Parker Jr.'s Once a Runner was - and still is - the best book ever written about the world of the serious, elite distance runner. (Cassidy, though a miler then, clearly trained as a distance runner.) Again to Carthage isn't likely to have the same success as its predecessor, but I suspect Parker will be okay with that. It seems clear he wrote this book primarily for himself and to honor his family and friends - and with the sure knowledge that both they and his more distant readers who have endured countless long miles - and life itself - will be captured by this tale of the older Cassidy/Parker.
A few readers, perhaps attracted to its lovely cover and the accolades for Once a Runner on the back , may come to this book new, but most will have read OAR. To the latter let me urge you not to expect to find simply further adventures of the college-age Cassidy. This book, too, has running as its center, but it is in many ways more ambitious and mature. Parker has done a great deal of living since those days. He has much he wants to say. And it is virtually all written with grace and passion.
I'm sure Parker had many doubts about writing a sequel to a book as loved as Once a Runner. I am glad he dared to do so - and had the courage to make it much more than a sequel.
Book Review: Parker Does It Again, Only Better This TIme
Summary: 5 Stars
I read Parker's Once a Runner way back in 1978 and loved it-rereading it many times over. So, I was a little wary about what this book would be like. If anything, I think it is the better book. Fuller, like the author and the main character. People who want every page to be about running won't find it here. Instead, there are sections devoted to family and how it shapes our character and outlook on life. Fortunately, the blue blazer crowd doesn't have the control over the athletes that they used to and that is a good thing. While I have heard them say that they could have regulated drug use by the athletes, I think that if they had the chance to test and regulate the drug use by athletes, they would have made Bud Selig look almost professional. Parker deals with this very well. The sense of loss-of family, youth and ability is examined here in an excellent way by Parker. I am looking forward to his next book, whether Cassidy is in it or not.